Website migration
What has to be done
- List every address of the old website, including those nobody looks at any more: the sitemap, Search Console and a crawling tool give the complete list
- Decide for each one: the equivalent page on the new website, or a close page, or an assumed removal
- Set up permanent redirects (code 301), old addresses to new ones, before the switch
- Keep the content that brought visits and links, reshaped
- Declare the change in Search Console and watch unindexed pages and broken links for a few weeks
- Warn the partners who point to precise addresses
Why it matters
Google explains in its site move guide that redirects are what transfers the history from one address to another. Without them, every page starts from scratch: partners' links land on an error, engines lose track, and so do visitors who had bookmarked the page. A small dip for a few weeks is normal; a lasting drop almost always comes from forgotten addresses. Source: Google Search Central, site move with URL changes.
What it weighs
For a ten-page website it is a morning: ten addresses, ten redirects, a check. For a website with several hundred pages in several languages it is a project in itself: inventory, page-by-page decisions, redirects in batches, tests, monitoring over months. That is what takes a large website out of the Kern4Good ladder: the risk of losing a ranking acquired over years is not handled in three days.
In Kern4Good
Every offer includes the redirects from the old website, whatever its platform. This website itself migrated from a hosted platform in September 2026, with a written mapping of every old address and a script that checks the redirects. A high-content website whose acquired ranking must be preserved is outside the ladder, on quote, at KERN-IT's agency rate: it is said at the first conversation, and the "Who this ladder is for" block of the Pricing page explains it.
Further reading
Do you always lose ranking when redoing a website?
No, if the redirects are done and if the content that brought visits is kept. A small dip for a few weeks is normal; a lasting drop almost always comes from forgotten addresses.
Should old pages be kept?
Those that still receive visits or links, yes, migrated and reshaped. The others can disappear, with a redirect to the closest page.
Can we change domain name at the same time?
Yes, but it is one more migration: every old address redirects to the new one on the new domain, and Search Console receives a change of address request. Better change one thing at a time when possible.
How long should we monitor after go-live?
A few weeks for errors (pages not found, broken links), two or three months for indexing and positions. The Pages report of Search Console is enough, a look per week then per month.